Iraq - the price of victory

On Sunday night the BBC broadcast a hard hitting and revealing Panorama programme about the aftermath of the recent war in Iraq. They followed a group of American troops from their initial confident assignments in Baghdad through the summer taking in house to house raids and several violent days of combat. The journalists get very close to the action and ask some surprisingly direct questions of the American military.
There are some scenes that are very hard to take, like the one of the interview of the wounded Iraqi youth, who is suspected of ambushing US soldiers. The Major who leads the interview opens by making an offer of medical care if he talks and not offering it if he does not. It is quite an offhand comment, that "things will go badly" for him if he does not talk and probably more chilling for that.
You do gain a sense that there are people really trying amongst the US Army, they feature one Captain particularily, but Paul Bremer comes out of the programme as not really being prepared to see the reality that the programme team experience at street level. UN Special Envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello is also interviewed in the programme, in fact 48 hours before he is killed in a car bomb. He speaks very clearly and lucidly about what needs to happen in Baghdad. Simply and clearly saying that armies do not make police forces. His death is a very great loss to the future of Iraq.
The tv programme is on the BBC website, most likely until Sunday. If you are interested in what is happening in Iraq now, then I strongly urge you to watch it, it is in RealPlayer format.